Xenotilapia
| Xenotilapia | ||||||||||||
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Xenotilapia nigrolabiata |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Xenotilapia | ||||||||||||
| Boulenger , 1899 |
Xenotilapia is a genus of cichlids that is endemic to Lake Tanganyika in East Africa.
features
Xenotilapia species are 6 to 18 cm long and have slender, sand-colored or silvery bodies with a long tail stalk. The dorsal fin has 12 to 15 hard rays, the anal fin three, as in most cichlids. Her eyes are very large and the lateral line system well developed. In addition to the two side lines that most cichlids have, a front, parallel to the back profile and a second in the middle of the rear body, the Xenotilapia species have a third on the tail. The pectoral fins are very long, in the pelvic fins that the fish use to rest on the ground, the inner rays are longer than the outer ones.
- Scale formula : SL 34-43
- Gill rake 9-18 on the lower half of the first gill arch.
Way of life
Xenotilapia species live in large schools over sandy or muddy bottoms in the great depths of Lake Tanganyika. Similar to the sand gobies in the sea, they feed on small invertebrates living in the bottom, which they ingest by taking a portion of sand or mud in their mouth, chewing it through and expelling it through the gill openings, whereby the edible components are held back by the gill rakes.
species
There are 18 types :
- Xenotilapia albini (Steindachner, 1909)
- Xenotilapia bathyphilus Poll, 1956
- Xenotilapia boulengeri Poll, 1942
- Xenotilapia burtoni Poll, 1951
- Xenotilapia caudofasciata Poll, 1951
- Xenotilapia flavipinnis Poll, 1985
- Xenotilapia leptura (Boulenger, 1901)
- Xenotilapia longispinis Poll, 1951
- Xenotilapia melanogenys (Boulenger, 1898)
- Xenotilapia nasus De Vos, Risch & Thys van den Audenaerde, 1995
- Xenotilapia nigrolabiata Poll, 1951
- Xenotilapia ochrogenys Boulenger, 1914
- Xenotilapia ornatipinnis Boulenger, 1901
- Xenotilapia papilio Büscher, 1990
- Xenotilapia rotundiventralis (Takahashi, Yanagisawa & Nakaya, 1997)
- Xenotilapia sima Boulenger, 1899 , type species
- Xenotilapia spilopterus Poll & Stewart, 1975
- Xenotilapia tenuidentata Poll, 1951
literature
- Pierre Brichard: The Big Book of Tanganyika Cichlids. With all the other fish on Lake Tanganyika. Bede Verlag, 1995, ISBN 978-3927997943 . Page 272, 431-435.
- Soren Neergaard: Tanganyika - Cichlids. Kernen Verlag, 1982, ISBN 3-8740-1005-8 . Page 161–162.
Web links
- Xenotilapia on Fishbase.org (English)